Collaborative research with children and young people

Kate PahlNatalie Phipps

Anna-Caitlin WoofSchool of Education

Aims of our moduleThis module explores the methodological and ethical issues

involved in engaging children and young people as active participants in the research process. Students will be

introduced to a number of case study research projects that have attempted to ensure the active participation of children and young people. These will be presented in ways that will allow students to consider methodological and ethical issues

in their own research by looking at what has worked well. The course team will involve you in actual research in community

settings where you will design and carry out research that engages children and young people as active participants in

the research process.

• The specific focus of the practical research will be on children’s meaning-making in spaces and places. To support this you will be introduced to theory and research which examines placemaking practices, the visual landscape and literacy in the community from children and young people’s perspectives.

This module aims to:

1. explore the methodological and ethical issues involved in research that strives to engage children and young people as active participants in the research process.2. provide experience of conducting practical research with children and young people3. develop your knowledge and understanding of how research funded by research council’s comes about through your engagement in a ‘live’ research project

Process of doing the module

• Each of the student chose a placement to be attached to

• These were sites where research was taking place with children and young people

• Their task was to look at participatory processes and practices

• They recorded this in a scrapbook or online journal also a reflective piece of writing

Virtual Social Science

• Year 8 pupils from Rawmarsh Community School

• An Artist, Paul Evans• A designer, Humanstudio• The University WP team• Kate Pahl, academic• Students from the BA in Education, Culture

and Childhood BA course

To find out more…

• Virtual social science

Experience of the students

• An uncertain route?• Where is the participation?• Whose voices are being heard?• What is our role in the project?• Rocky journey, some ups and downs…..

Feedback from team

• A fantastic addition to the project (Paul Evans, artist)

• Really good to have the students on board (Rachel Mullins Rawmarsh Community School)

• Provided another lens to look at the process (Kate Pahl, supervisor)

• Commitment and enthusiasm was highly valued by all

Co-production

• Co-production requires a mode of closeness to the everyday and a recognition of different ways of being, modes of expression and forms of meaning making. It involves recognizing issues of power and control. In community contexts it might mean shifting attention away from preferred ways of knowing and being to unfamiliar ways of knowing and being for all participants. (Pahl and Pool 2013)

• Co-produced knowledge is not about finding consensus it recognizes the vast potential that lies beneath the surface of things. Rather than cultivating fruit, it identifies and promotes the conditions for growth. (Steve Pool 2012)

Reflection on collaborative research

• Over to you Natalie and Anna!